LOCALIZATION OF NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE SOUNDS IN THE BAY OF FUNDY USING A SONOBUOY ARRAY

Abstract

A bstract A free‐drifting 14‐sonobuoy array was used to localize North Atlantic right whales ( Eubalaena glacialis ) in the Grand Manan Basin area of the Bay of Fundy. This area is a primary summer/autumn right whale habitat and overlaps an international shipping lane. The three‐hour deployment on a single day provided two‐dimensional localization of 94 right whale sounds based on arrival time differences determined from spectrogram cross‐correlation analysis. The sounds were of two distinct types: tonal and gunshot. Maximum detection distances were about 30 km for both types of sound. The mean RMS location error was 1.8 km for tonal‐type sounds and 2.5 km for gunshot‐type sounds. The average RMS error was 20% of the average distance from the receiving hydrophones, the primary source of error being uncertainty in the sonobuoy positions.

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